Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Guidance and Training

The following morning...

After Lily and I changed, a soldier dropped by to guide us to breakfast. The section of the fortress we were staying in was apparently also used by a portion of the knights. When we passed by several well-dressed knights, they came to a stop and courteously bowed to us, leaving me somewhat uneasy.

The regular soldiers seemed to be staying elsewhere, so fortunately our escort was the only one we had to meet. This sort of treatment only made me feel uncomfortable. I felt like if I got used to it, I’d start to misunderstand something.

The soldier brought us to a room somewhat smaller than yesterday’s party room. After exchanging greetings with the other students who were already eating, we headed over to the woman who was serving food. She handed us bread, which was still fresh from the oven, along with a root vegetable salad. She then scooped out some soup from a pot filled with large chunks of floating meat, handing that over as well.

We took our meals, headed over to a table, and sat down across from each other. Just as I started eating, Mikihiko dropped by.

“Morning, Takahiro, Mizushima.”

“Mikihiko? Morning.”

“Morning, Kaneki. That’s a whole lot of food,” Lily said in a somewhat astonished tone.

Mikihiko sat down beside me. His wooden tray was topped with about three times my portion.

“They’ll bring it over if you ask. How ’bout asking for more too, Takahiro?”

“I’m fine. I can’t eat that much in the morning. Actually, were you always such a big eater?”

“Hmm. Well, I almost starved to death before. My constitution changed after that.”

It was somewhat startling to hear, but he spoke of it as if it were nothing more than idle chatter as he jammed some bread into his mouth.

“I’m a little scared I’ll get fat from this sooner or later. I’ve gotta get some proper exercise in.”

So he said, but he was thinner than I remembered. He probably hadn’t recovered from nearly starving to death yet. Maybe his body was simply compensating.

Mikihiko continued to greedily gulp down his food as he got the conversation moving.

“Speaking of exercise, what’re you two up to today? You gonna join the training?”

“Training...?”

“Oh yeah. You didn’t hear about it since you left early.” Mikihiko twirled his spoon around and went on to explain everything that happened after we returned to our room. “All of you who just got here don’t really know anything about the fortress, yeah? So, the general in charge is gonna personally give a tour. They’ll even be observing some military drills. After that, personnel from the fortress will do some light training with anyone who wants to. Sword and magic fantasy training, that is.”

“Hmm.”

“Even though the home team members have cheats, they’re not self-aware of what they are, right? It’s a total waste of talent. They’re apparently gonna start testing a whole lotta things starting today to try and find out what their cheats are.”

“I see.”

It wasn’t a bad idea. It took encountering a monster up close for me to realize my own ability. I could understand them wanting to take every opportunity they could. Unfortunately, I’d already awakened to my cheat, so there wasn’t really a point in me participating.

I then lowered my gaze to the shortswords hanging from Mikihiko’s waist.

“How about you, Mikihiko? You participating in this training?”

He took a glance at the other students in the room and snorted. “Huh? Me? With them? Why?”

I smiled at his easy-to-understand attitude. I had no intention of criticizing him for it, though. Frankly, I didn’t like the guys from the exploration team either, and I didn’t have a good impression of the other students. But it was just boring old envy on my part. Regardless, I couldn’t do anything about it.

“I plan on meeting the commander today,” Mikihiko said as he chowed down on his food. “Well, not that I didn’t yesterday, I guess. Or the day before that...”

I recalled the silver-haired woman I met yesterday. At the same time, I remembered how emotionally attached Mikihiko was to her.

“You’re quite smitten with her, huh?”

“Smitten? That sounds nice. It gets right to the point in all sorts of ways,” he said with a hearty laugh. He wasn’t shy about it in the least. He was apparently serious about her.

“I’m surprised. Weren’t you only interested in 2D before?”

“I’m serious enough to change doctrines. Well, there’s all kinds of hurdles, though. The difference in nationality and worlds, and even our age gap would probably work out one way or another. But the difference in status seems pretty insurmountable...”

“Status?”

“She may not look it, but she’s a bonafide princess of a small country.”

“...A person like that is serving as the commander of the knights?”

“She’s got a whole lot going on...”

From what Mikihiko said, the “Alliance” of the Third Company of the Alliance Knights referred to a group of small countries that bordered the Woodlands. The Third Company was composed of knights dispatched from one specific country among them, and someone from the royal family always served as the commander. It really felt like the troublesome matters of another world. I wanted to avoid getting involved in it as much as possible.

“She’s got it pretty tough in her own way. I want to support her,” Mikihiko said calmly.

“...I see.”

Mikihiko was apparently planning to dive headfirst into the troublesome circumstances I wanted nothing to do with. It wasn’t hard to see why, though. I felt like I could more or less understand his feelings.

Mikihiko told me yesterday that there were no records of saviors ever returning to where they came from. Meaning we were all destined to die on this planet one day. In that case, I wanted to spend the rest of my long life here together with my servants.

Mikihiko likely thought of the commander in the same way. His feelings prompted him to involve himself in the affairs of this world. No matter what difficulties I might come across, I couldn’t possibly consider leaving Lily and the others. He was the same; just instead of meeting monsters, he met a human from this world. If he’d met monsters instead of the commander, perhaps our positions would be different here.

All I could do for him was offer my words of encouragement.

“Hang in there.”

Mikihiko smiled ever so shyly and nodded back to me as Lily looked on with a smile of her own.

“Hm?” I cocked my head. Her expression looked strangely happy. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

Lily shook her head and returned to her meal. Was it something she couldn’t say here? Or was it really nothing...? Regardless, she would presumably tell me about it later.

With that, I spent the rest of breakfast chatting with Mikihiko. Half of the topics he brought up were related to the commander; the other half were about my relationship with “Mizushima Miho.” In short, it was all just idle chatter. I didn’t get any relevant information out of it. That’s what idle chatter between friends was anyhow.

Lily didn’t participate in our conversation much. She just watched over us with a happy expression as we talked, as if she was in the greatest of moods.

◆ ◆ ◆

After we finished breakfast, we decided to join the tour Mikihiko had told us about. All the other students, aside from the ones who weren’t in good health, were also taking part.

General Greene was leading the tour personally at the fore. Accompanying him were two men who were the top brass of the Imperial Southern Army and the Imperial Knights. These two were striking up conversations with the students and asking them questions.

As for General Greene, he went on to speak at length of how Fort Tilia was impregnable, how the soldiers protecting it were powerful, how talented a person he was to be entrusted with such an important location, and so on and so forth. Even I could tell what the point of all this posturing was.

Simply put, they were trying to appeal to their potential saviors. The job of giving this tour was probably highly sought after, given that. The only ones participating were in fact all of the most important men in the fortress. The lack of presence from the Alliance Knights was likely due to the circumstances Mikihiko alluded to. The small countries that made up the Alliance were vassals of the Empire, so their position in the fortress wasn’t terribly significant.

In any case, the tour itself was worthwhile. The cheerful General Greene guided us through a good portion of the fortress. Fort Tilia was composed of many flat wall sections connected by towers. The moat encircling the outer walls served as an extra defensive layer and even had its own taller inner wall. One could walk along the ramparts of both the inner and outer walls. From this vantage, I was able to look down on the Woodlands where we had been wandering for the last two months.

These positions were used to intercept invaders during emergencies. There were also defensive towers in place at key points of the fortress. Fort Tilia was an enormous structure capable of accommodating a military force over a thousand strong.

We didn’t go through every nook and cranny, but it was still helpful to grasp its general layout. It could be useful to know, for example, where the defenses were thinnest, in case Lily was found out and we needed to run away. It was of course best it didn’t come to that. However, unforeseen events had a tendency to occur. I needed to hammer the layout of the defenses here into my head as much as possible.

◆ ◆ ◆

After our tour came to an end, they brought us to one of the training grounds within the fortress. It was a large room with a sandy floor, and inside soldiers armed with spears were zealously training.

“What do you think, my dear guests?!” General Greene shouted with pride.

“It’s splendid. You can feel their passion,” Juumonji replied. He had naturally become the representative for those on the tour.

The soldiers were in fact passionate about their training. They couldn’t possibly cut corners when parading themselves before their heroes. Perhaps there had been fierce competition for this role as well.

“Haha. Juumonji, it’s an honor to hear that from you, sir,” General Greene replied with a satisfied nod. “Oh yes, could I ask you to allow the soldiers the honor of sparring with you?”

“Sure. I don’t mind.”

Aside from Iino, who didn’t look interested, the other two members of the exploration team accepted the general’s request. This mock battle was meant to put the strength of the exploration team on full display.

The soldier facing off against Juumonji was a particularly brawny-looking man. The muscles beneath his armor were thick, and even as he swung his heavy broadsword around, his torso didn’t budge an inch.

However, he was nothing more than an infant when faced with a cheater. The soldier charged in with a roar, but Juumonji easily dodged him. He casually wielded his sword and effortlessly repelled the soldier’s full-force strikes.

Seeing the soldier seize his dominant hand with a small groan, a bold smile crept up on Juumonji’s virile face. “What’s wrong? Is that all you’ve got?!”

The warriors, who made up the large majority of cheaters, excelled in close combat. From what I heard back in the Colony, they instinctively knew how best to move when fighting. Juumonji’s movements were somewhat wild, but they had a grandness to them that one would never attribute to a student living in peaceful Japan.

It had been two months since we found ourselves in this world. Considering he hadn’t done any genuine training, “abnormal” didn’t even begin to describe this. His physical abilities stood out above all else. The difference in sheer strength between the soldier and Juumonji was like that of an infant and an adult.

“Now it’s my turn!”

Juumonji let out a gallant roar and took action, forcing the soldier into a defensive battle. The man was desperately trying to fend him off, but his reflexes couldn’t keep up at all. After Juumonji toyed with him as much as he pleased, a dull thud rang out as he swatted the sword from the soldier’s hand.

The students watching the bout cheered. Juumonji had plenty of energy to spare. The same went for Watanabe, who also participated in a bout. These were cheaters. Saviors. Heroes.

“...”

I gave a sidelong glance at the excited students as they watched the exploration team members spar. I just couldn’t get used to this atmosphere. I couldn’t watch with sparkling eyes like they did.

Take the soldier who faced off against Juumonji, for example. He was sure to have gone through intense training. His sword was packed with years and years of experience. It was as if I could sense this after recently starting my special training with Gerbera. In contrast, I couldn’t feel any of that from Juumonji.

By all rights, this should’ve been something acquired through the dedication of time and the devotion in bettering oneself. Suddenly acquiring it at no price whatsoever lacked a sense of propriety to it. Rather, their way of doing it felt somewhat cold to me. Perhaps that was why a sudden thought came to mind.

Does this power of ours really come at no cost? If we’re saviors of this world precisely because we pay no price, then what kind of logic drives this?

I couldn’t come up with an answer. I didn’t know anything about this mysterious power within me. Why was I brought to this world and given the power to tame monsters? I had no idea. It made me feel insecure. The chill I felt sent a small shiver throughout my body.

◆ ◆ ◆

After giving our tour guides some vague excuse, I took Lily and left for our room. The tour itself was already over, so my goal was pretty much accomplished. I wasn’t that interested in watching the soldiers train to begin with, and joining in with the other students would bring me nothing but emotional pain.

Moreover, I had yet to tell anyone I could strengthen my own body with mana. It was best to keep my cards hidden whenever possible. Participating in this training would be counterproductive to that, which made me want to participate less and less.

“Oh, Takahiro, Miho.”

A voice greeted us immediately after we left the training ground. A familiar elven knight was walking down the hallway toward us.

“Is something the matter? I heard the plan for today was to provide a tour of the fortress and observe the soldiers train.”

“It is, but Mizushima started to feel a little sick in the middle of the training.” I resorted to the excuse we had prepared earlier as I pointed to Lily, who was leaning against my arm with her head hung low.

“Is that so? That won’t do,” she replied with a worried frown.

“I think she was affected by the feverish training. We didn’t have much to do with this sort of thing before. I’m sure she’ll get better once we get back to our room. How about you, Lieutenant Shiran? I see you’re not wearing your armor today.”

Shiran was wearing a military uniform much like she was during yesterday’s party, but she wasn’t carrying anything aside from the sword at her waist. I had assumed that soldiers and knights would be fully equipped at all times within a castle, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“Our mission as knights is to suppress the monsters forcing their way through the forest. We are not always equipped when in the fortress itself. The soldiers affiliated with the army have a duty to maintain, manage, and defend the castle.”

Duties between the knights and the army were segregated. I didn’t even need to think of the over-compartmentalized systems of our world to see how this sort of organization was to avoid unnecessary friction between groups.

“Besides, I have just returned from a long mission, so I have been permitted to go unequipped.”

“Oh, so it’s your day off today? So why are you here...?”

There was a boy following behind Shiran. He wasn’t from this world; he was a student like me. This was the bullied kid who had been together with the blond delinquent Sakagami Gouta. If I remembered right...

“Kudou Riku, was it? Why are you here?”

The timid-looking underclassman with a thin face averted his gaze, so Shiran answered in his stead. “I found him in a separate block of the fortress a little ways from here. I was in the middle of guiding him to where everyone was gathered.”

In short, he was lost. I’d seen Sakagami during the tour, but I didn’t see Kudou. I’d thought he wasn’t participating due to poor health, but that wasn’t the case.

“Um, Lieutenant Shiran,” Kudou said as he raised his head, “the training ground is right here, so I’ll be fine on my own now.”

“Very well, sir. Then allow me to excuse myself here.” Shiran gave Kudou a bow and then turned toward me. “Oh yes, Takahiro, are you on your way back to your room?”

“That’s the plan.”

“If you have the time, sir, then how about I answer your questions regarding this world?”

“Would you? I’d really appreciate it.”

I managed to get a lot of good information from Mikihiko yesterday, but I still needed to gather more. I planned to ask Shiran, or someone else if she was busy, about this world once I got back to my room, so this saved me the effort.

“I’m interested in the history of saviors and runestones. It would be a great help if you could tell me about them.”

“Very well, sir. I will drop by your room shortly after.” Shiran clicked her heels together with a bow before turning around and taking her leave.

“Um...”

As I watched her blonde ponytail sway behind her, a voice called out to me from the side. Kudou was looking at me.

“Are you not participating in the training, Senpai?”

I didn’t let it show on my face, but I found this rather unexpected. During our journey to Fort Tilia, Kudou didn’t open his mouth even once, aside from when he introduced himself. It was surprising that he’d show any interest in me.

“I don’t plan to,” I answered.

Kudou looked down at the floor. “I see...”

What was going on? I exchanged glances with Lily. Was Kudou perhaps reluctant to participate in the training, much like I was? Or did he find us strange for acting differently from the other students? In any case, something about us attracted his interest. If not, a guy with this kind of personality wouldn’t speak to people he didn’t know.

“Um—”

“Oh hey, it’s Kudou.”

Just as Kudou was about to say something, a rude voice cut him off from behind. Kudou’s expression clouded over in an instant.

“Aren’t you a little late for the show here?”

It was the boy with bleached hair, Sakagami Gouta. The other students, led by General Greene, were also coming out into the hallway from the training ground. It seemed they had finished observing the soldiers’ training while I was speaking with Shiran and Kudou. But they were headed in a different direction. Sakagami was the only one coming toward us.

“What happened? Don’t tell me you got lost or something.”

“Huh? That’s...”

“What? You got a problem?”

“...No, not really. It’s...nothing.”

Watching Sakagami put on airs, a filthy grin on his face, I somehow got a read on the situation. Shiran said she found Kudou after he’d gotten lost. Sakagami was undoubtedly the reason for this. I didn’t know what exactly he’d done, but it was definitely something stupid.

“The hell you staring at, Senpai?” Sakagami said upon noticing my gaze.

I wasn’t meaning to stare, but that’s how Sakagami interpreted it. Actually, it felt like he was looking for an excuse to pick a fight. Maybe he just didn’t like how I was walking around with a girl. Even when we were on our way to Fort Tilia, he shot irritated glances at us every now and then.

What should I do...? Doing something as conspicuous as getting in a fight wasn’t a great idea, seeing as how I was the one hiding things, but...

Just then, the situation began moving in a different direction.

“Something going on here?”

The exploration team, who left the training ground a little behind the other students, noticed us. Juumonji was the one to speak. He was supposed to have sparred against several soldiers just moments ago, but he didn’t have a single bead of sweat on him.

“Is there a problem here?” he asked Sakagami as he narrowed his gaze.

“...No. Nothing.”

Sakagami quietly backed down, shrugging his shoulders with a bored expression. It seemed he had no intention of picking a fight with the exploration team.

“Hey, get your ass over here already, Kudou.”

“R-Right...”

As Sakagami walked past us, he clicked his tongue and glared at me, perhaps as a final show of harassment. Lily narrowed her gaze ever so slightly as she leaned against me. I calmed her down with a tap to the hand she had placed on my chest. I was also displeased, but this guy was small game. There was no point in paying him any attention. It would actually be counterproductive if it led to revealing our secrets.

“You’d be better off staying away from that guy,” Watanabe said to Kudou as he watched Sakagami walk off with an irritated expression. “We’ll warn him about it later too.”

“...Thank you.”

Kudou bowed and then jogged over to Sakagami. Watanabe’s words didn’t seem to get through to him.

“What a pain,” Juumonji said with a sigh. “This is a time where we need to join forces, so why’s he trying to keep things exactly as they were back home?”

I could see a hint of irritation on Juumonji’s face. The exploration team had worries of their own. Even if they were filled with charisma from their coincidentally gifted powers, it wasn’t all that easy to unite people.

“By the way, what’re you two doing here?” he asked, as if just now noticing us. “You know everyone’s heading over to the knights for training, right?”

“Aah... We’re not participating.”

“What? Why?” Juumonji looked absolutely shocked. There was even a hint of criticism in his tone.

Now I understood why Mikihiko was so pissed off when he spoke about this during breakfast. It was a pain just talking with them when they threw around this thoughtless virtuousness so casually. It was better for me to bring this conversation to an end as quickly as possible and take my leave.

I decided to use my promise with Shiran. “Sorry, I’ve got a prior arrangement to keep. Excuse us.”

I began walking away with Lily in tow. Juumonji grimaced, but I pretended not to notice.

“Hey, wait a sec.” And yet things developed in a completely unexpected manner. “Sorry Juumonji, Watanabe. I’ve got some business here. Can you two go on ahead?”

It was the lone girl in their group, the Skanda Iino Yuna.

Juumonji looked somewhat taken aback by her unexpected behavior, but he gave her a nod. “S-Sure... But don’t be late for training.”

“The word ‘late’ doesn’t exist in my vocabulary,” Iino replied jokingly.

With her two comrades-in-arms gone, the only ones left here were Lily, Iino, and myself.

“Okay then,” Iino said. I discreetly put myself on guard, but she didn’t turn to me. Her business had to do with Lily...or rather, with “Mizushima Miho.” “Long time no see, Mizushima. We haven’t really talked all that much, but do you remember me?”

“Of course. We haven’t spoken at all since coming here, right?”

Iino was a second-year student, the same as Mizushima Miho and me. I’d never once spoken with her though. I’d recognized her since we were in the same grade, but I couldn’t actually match a name to her face back in school. However, Mizushima Miho and her were both girls, so they had apparently at least talked to each other back then.

I assumed she’d gone out of her way to stop us so she could greet Mizushima, but I immediately realized something odd. Iino actually looked interested in me. She shot a glance my way as she let out a long sigh.

“Hmmm, how pitiful.”

That’s quite the greeting... Was she picking a fight? Not that I had any intention of being provoked.

“Oh, no, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about you,” Iino said as she waved her hands about in a flurry before returning her gaze to Lily. “You know Takaya Jun, right? He’s one grade lower.”

Lily’s eyes shot open at this. That was the name of Mizushima Miho’s childhood friend in the exploration team.

“Takaya is alive,” Iino said with a smile. “I thought I should let you know.”

“Meaning, the one who informed the first expeditionary force at Fort Ebenus about the Colony’s destruction really was...” Lily replied as she trailed off.

“Yup. It was Takaya.”

Mizushima Miho’s childhood friend had gone east to get help from the expeditionary force. Katou had told us of this before. He must have been successful...or not. The person he wanted to save by doing so, Mizushima Miho, was already dead. By the time he reached the expeditionary force, it was already meaningless.

“Takaya asked me to protect you if I happened to find you, seeing how I already knew you. I guess you didn’t need saving in the end, though.”

“...Where is he now?”

“He stayed behind in Fort Ebenus. Looks like he was pushing it getting through the Woodlands all on his own. His body was quite a mess. He was persistent, but he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with us in his state. So it’ll be a little longer before he comes this way.”

It was pretty easy to guess what our relationship was upon seeing “Mizushima Miho” nestled up against me like this. The truth was a little different, but this was definitely a cruel development for Takaya Jun regardless.

“Anyway, that’s all I had to say. I’m glad we got a chance to talk before I leave,” Iino said as if a weight had been lifted off her mind.

“Thanks for letting me know, Iino,” Lily said, responding with a smile and a small bow of the head. “By the way, what do you mean by leaving?”

“Hm? You don’t know? The second rescue operation into the Woodlands is leaving within the day. I’ll be going along. We plan to go around a few huts in the Depths and, if we have the time, drop by the Colony.”

I heard about this from Mikihiko yesterday. It had only been a day since Shiran came back and they were already setting off. As one would expect of the Skanda, the swift-footed deity, Iino was quick to take action.

“Oh. But don’t worry. We don’t want the students staying behind to feel anxious, so Juumonji and Watanabe are going to stay too.”

“So you’re not all going together?”

“I’m more than capable enough on my own in terms of combat strength. Actually, it’d be faster if I was completely on my own...but you never know what could happen in the Woodlands, so the knights objected. Juumonji and Watanabe were also whining about coming along.”

Iino shrugged. Her behavior didn’t convey a single hint that she was about to dive into danger. There was no need for her to feel threatened, after all. I recalled the battle I saw—or didn’t see—against the bull wrigglers. Her title of Skanda wasn’t just for show. Iino Yuna’s combat abilities were on an entirely different level. There was a beauty to it. Just like how a hero should be. That was why the other students and the people of this world looked to her with hope in their eyes, while Mikihiko looked at her with disgust.

“Oops. Look at the time. Sorry, Mizushima. I’ve got to get going.” Realizing she had gotten too caught up in the conversation, Iino turned on her heels. “See you later.”